Can a player shooting a free throw step on the free throw line, but not over, while he/she is shooting?

I know a player can step on an OOB line during a throw in, was just wondering about a free throw.

(1) No - the edge farther from the basket is considered the free throw line.

(2) Yes, as long as the player does not step on the actual court.

The key to remembering all of this is the fact that a line is one dimensional.

Speaking of lines...
 

Changing the subject slightly, here's something that I've never gotten quite clear. During a free throw, one of the players in a lane space puts an arm into the lane. Is that a violation? What if he/she lifts a foot and starts to step into the lane before the release, crosses the plane, but doesn't actually touch the lane until after the release? Here's the relevant rules (NCAA). Part (h) is new this year, and just confuses me more. Can someone interpret these for me?

Thanks!

Rule 9-1, Article 2
g . Players occupying any of the legal marked lane spaces on each side of the lane may break the vertical plane of a lane-space boundary once the free-thrower has released the ball. (See Rule 8-1.)
h . Players occupying a marked lane space may not have either foot beyond the vertical plane of the outside edge of any lane boundary or beyond the vertical plane of any edge of space (2 x 36 inches) designated by a lane space mark or beyond the vertical plane of any edge of the lane until the ball is released by the free-thrower.

Re: Speaking of lines...
 

What's confusing? If the FOOT crosses the plane, it's a violation. So, in your first example (arm into the lane), it's not a violation. In the second example, it's a violation, even thought the foot doesn't touch the floor.

Re: Re: Speaking of lines...
 

What's confusing (to me, anyway) is that in part (g) it says that *players* may break the vertical plane once the free-thrower has released the ball. To me, this means any part of the player---including the arm.

Part (h) talks only about *either foot*, which is different from the whole player.

Now I call it the way you've described it exactly. But I'm just trying to understand better the actual rule.

Think of it this way: if the violation were for any part of the body crossing the line, you'd probably have 6-8 lane violations (depending on what rules you use) on each FT.